The portress had heard nothing more. But was this not enough to justify every alarm?
Don Luis caught hold of the deputy chief:
"Come along! I knew it: the man is capable of anything. It's the tiger!
He means to kill her!"
He rushed outside, dragging the deputy toward the two police motors waiting five hundred yards down. Meanwhile, Mazeroux was trying to protest:
"It would be better to search the house, to pick up some clues—"
"Oh," shouted Don Luis, increasing his pace, "the house and the clues will keep! … But he's gaining ground, the ruffian—and he has Florence with him—and he's going to kill her! It's a trap! … I'm sure of it—"
He was shouting in the dark, dragging the two men along with irresistible force.
They neared the motors.
"Get ready!" he ordered as soon as he was in sight. "I'll drive myself."
He tried to get into the driver's seat. But Weber objected and pushed him inside, saying: